After her six-year odyssey in Montgomery Alabama, Carla Thompson finally made it back home to New York City. Today, Carla has been busy writing articles for the likes of Black Enterprise Magazine, BlackAmericaWeb.com, Women's eNews, and BET.com. She is also an adjunct lecturer teaching business communication and public relations at Baruch College and Fordham University at Lincoln Center.

Carla discovered her love of both teaching and writing while living in Alabama. She taught communication studies at local colleges and universities and wrote opinion pieces espousing her own brand of pragmatic conservatism for the Montgomery Advertiser, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Birmingham News, and Huntsville Times. She also penned articles for the Advertiser's home and garden supplement -- quite an accomplishment for a woman who thinks that a hammer is heavy machinery. If these two labor intensive professions weren't enough to have kept her out of trouble (and they weren't), she also worked as a radio talk show host interviewing luminaries like Tavis Smiley, and as a publicist for a local arts institution.

Prior to landing in Montgomery, Alabama, Carla Thompson, a Northwestern University graduate, also lived in Los Angeles where she received her MFA in Communication Arts/Television Production from Loyola Marymount University (LMU). While at LMU, she produced two award-winning short films - a narrative, A Hill of Our Own and a documentary, The Root of It All (distributed by the National Film Network).

Carla is currently working on her next book, Handle Your Business: Words of Wisdom from a Grown A** Woman which features her unsolicited, uncensored views on how to navigate work and life.

Carla's memoir, Bearing Witness: Not So Crazy in Alabama is her first book.

And the award goes to...Carla

Here are some of the accolades that Carla has won over the years:

Journalism

First Place - Capital Press Women Contest - Writing for the Web -Features
Honorable Mention - National Federation of Press Women Communications Awards- Writing for the Web - Features

Films

The Root of It All

Screenings:

Carolina Film and Video Festival, Greensboro, NC
Santa Monica Festival, Santa Monica, CA
City TV, Santa Monica, CA

Award: Honorable Mention - 37th Annual Rochester Amateur International Film Festival.

A Hill of Our Own

Awards:

Artistic Director's Award of Merit - Sinking Creek Film and Video Festival Panavision New Filmmaker Program Eastman Kodak Film Grant

Talk to Carla and She'll Talk to You

If you are interested in having Carla speak to your group about Bearing Witness: Not So Crazy in Alabama, Southern and American Culture, email Carla.

Press Release

Carla's Resume

Selected Articles by Carla Thompson

"Michelle Obama's Truth May Set Us Free" - Blogcritcs

"Three Brothers Take Life's Lemons and Start Their Own Lemonade Company" - AOL Black Voices

"Hip Hop Women Recount Abuse at Their Own Risk" - Women's eNews

"For Men Only: Brooklyn College Experiments with Program to Increase Black Male Enrollment" - AOL Black Voices

"The New African Americans: African and Caribbean Immigrants are Changing Black Identity in the United States" - AOL Black Voices

"Black Migration After Katrina: Right Direction or Wrong?" - AOL Black Voices

"Gay Folks Live Where Black Folks Live" - BlackVoices.com

"Experts: Hip Hop Glorifies Pimping" - Women's eNew

Carla Factoids

Was stage manager for the Flintstone Show at Universal Studios, CA
Was a dancing extra in a never-to-be seen music video
Skipped 6th grade. Her most incredible physical feat to date.
Was a certified aerobics instructor
Was the valedictorian of her kindergarten class